Hey guys! Just wanted to follow up with this since there was quite a bit of discussion and some really good feedback on how the Epic Pantheon Trinkets are awarded. Recently we've pushed forward a change before this current reset.

The Pantheon trinkets for drops after the first now obey your loot specializations. Previously it only followed your loot specialization for the first one and the second was random for your other specs.

Appreciate all of the feedback you guys have been giving us about this!

Mythic Dungeon Invitational: Prepping for the Time Trials

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

With the Proving Grounds of the Mythic Dungeon Invitational (MDI) wrapping up, we wanted to share more information on the next stage of the event, the MDI Time Trials!

Everything You Need to Know About MDI Time Trials
For last year’s first Mythic Dungeon Invitational, only the top 8 teams were invited to take part in the next stage. This year, we’re allowing even more teams to compete for their share of the $200,000 global prize pool. All eligible teams who complete the MDI Proving Grounds will receive an invitation to the Tournament Realms, which are specifically configured realms for the next stage of the tournament. All players will have access to the same top-end gear to equip their character and prove that they have what it takes to be crowned as the global Mythic Dungeon Invitational champions.

What are the Time Trials?
Kicking off Tuesday, March 27, the Time Trials is a way for us to judge the overall skill, expertise, and flexibility of teams as they tackle three dungeons across different difficulties. Some teams are good at pushing high keys, or surviving nasty affixes, or maybe they’ve mastered a single dungeon. But in the MDI, teams need to have all these skills to thrive and make it to the top.

Dungeon 1 - Maw of Souls +20

Bursting

Quaking

Fortified

Dungeon 2 - Upper Karazhan +22

Raging

Explosive

Tyrannical

Dungeon 3 - Neltharion's Lair +24

Sanguine

Grievous

Fortified

These three dungeons will be the sole focus for teams during the week of Time Trials and all teams will have unlimited tries on the Tournament Realm to refine and master these dungeons.

Just completing the dungeons in time won’t be enough and teams will need to push themselves to see how fast they can run each of the dungeons. We’ll compile each team’s fastest time on each dungeon and add all three times together for their Time Trials score. Only the top 8 scores for each region move onto the Regional Bracket stage, so expect teams to be fiercely competitive to stay on top of the pack.

Make sure you submit your scores from the Proving Grounds period. All entries must be received by March 16 by 3:00 p.m. PDT. Only dungeons completed during the Proving Ground period will be considered.

Voice Acted Quests Shut Down
Recently, TioMiklas started a community driven add-on project called Voice Acted Quests, which called for players to become voice actors for the quests in World of Warcraft. The addon played audio of the quest dialogue over the quest text and was voiced by members of the WoW community. The project was gaining steam, but has met the same fate as Bellular's Warcraft Tales project and was shut down by Blizzard.

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker)

Hello TioMiklas,

I’m Josh Allen, from the World of Warcraft Community Team. We came across your Voice Acted Quests project, and I have to say, the work you’ve put into it is very impressive!

Unfortunately, I’ve been told that this project infringes on our intellectual copyrights in a way that we can’t allow. You may recall a similar situation with an addon called “Warcraft Tales” a few months ago. While your project is slightly different, it’s still considered a re-performance of our established works.

Because of that, we have to ask you to stop production and distribution of the Voice Acted Quests project. Rather than going straight to delivering a legal notice, they’ve asked me to contact you directly to deliver the news and answer any questions you may have. Like I said, it’s a very impressive project and we recognize the amount of work you’ve put into it, it’s just not the sort of thing we can allow to be created using our copyright.

Sorry for the bad news.

Hey again, sorry for the delay in getting back. I managed to sync up with the higher-ups here again with your questions.

The issue isn't about any potential monetary gains. The issue is simply that Blizzard doesn't want third parties to create in-game story content for WoW, and creating a vocal performance for existing lines falls inside that. No one here thinks you’re trying to be malicious – I’m being completely honest when I say we found your work impressive!

That’s about the extent of what I can comment on myself. Anything further would need to come from our legal team.

With the Spring Finals on the horizon and Europe’s top four decided, teams from North America duked it out in the third AWC North American Cup. With Method Orange flying high after success in the second N.A. cup, their spot at the Spring Finals live event seemed guaranteed, leaving four teams in the region to battle for three spots.

The third North American cup was a story of upsets with Super Frogs not even making the top 8 and Method Orange stumbling early and falling to the lower bracket against Tilted. In what was a huge match for seeding in the Spring Finals, The Rejects, with 120 points this season, swept Method Black, who sat on 140 points, leaving both teams on the cusp of the fourth Spring Finals spot. In the upper bracket semifinals, The Rejects set themselves up for a Spring Finals berth with a 3-1 win over Fairly Caustic. On the other side, Tilted beat Sneakier Snakes in a tight 3-2 match to advance to the upper bracket finals. In the lower bracket, Method Orange went past Fairly Caustic with ease and Method Black fell to Sneakier Snakes.Snakes then eliminated the regional heavyweights 3-1 with the split pressure from the Jungle Cleave too much for Method Orange to handle.

In the upper bracket finals, The Rejects managed to get past Tilted 3-1 thanks to the burst damage from their Rogue/Shaman composition. In the lower bracket, Sneakier Snakes and Tilted set up a rematch with a spot in the cup final and a chance at the Spring Finals on the line. The series went the way of the Snakes 3-1 setting up a grand final against The Rejects with a high seed at the Spring Finals going to the winner. In the end, the damage from Sneakier Snakes’ Jungle Cleave was too much for The Rejects to handle and it was a quick sweep for the Snakes. With that win, Sneakier Snakes’ booked their spot into the Spring Finals and look to be going into the Spring Finals with all the momentum.

With the four teams from North America set—Method Orange, The Rejects, Super Frogs, and Sneakier Snakes—the field of teams for the Spring Finals is complete. Looking ahead to the Spring Finals, Sneakier Snakes are the in-form team but Method Orange have been the more dominant team from North America and are the team looking to make their mark internationally in 2018. The Spring Finals should be a stylistic matchup too, as the RMP that seems to be more prevalent in Europe will face off against the more aggressive Jungle Cleave and Windwalker/Death Knight compositions from North America.

All style battles and bragging rights will be decided at the Spring Finals beginning March 31.

I'm a little confused about the shut down of the addon. I'm not surprised that it was shut down by Blizzard considering how they are, but I don't get why they have to be like this towards this specific addon. It's literally just text from their quests being voice acted by various people, and the only thing being created is audio to go along with already written dialogue. What is this infringing on? This is almost the equivalent to them shutting down a content creator or streamer for reading quest dialogue in their streams/videos.

I'm a little confused about the shut down of the addon. I'm not surprised that it was shut down by Blizzard considering how they are, but I don't get why they have to be like this towards this specific addon. It's literally just text from their quests being voice acted by various people, and the only thing being created is audio to go along with already written dialogue. What is this infringing on? This is almost the equivalent to them shutting down a content creator or streamer for reading quest dialogue in their streams/videos.

Mostly because it's directly using the game's assets which is illegal under current copyright laws. Using those assets indirectly (art, videos, streaming etc.) is protected under fair use.

Unfortunately with copyright laws it's a use 'em or lose 'em situation. Blizzard's hand is forced in these situations. In court they would have a hard time saying this addon is okay, while an addon that changes quest text is not okay. So they have to cover all of them equally to protect their IP.

I'm a little confused about the shut down of the addon. I'm not surprised that it was shut down by Blizzard considering how they are, but I don't get why they have to be like this towards this specific addon. It's literally just text from their quests being voice acted by various people, and the only thing being created is audio to go along with already written dialogue. What is this infringing on? This is almost the equivalent to them shutting down a content creator or streamer for reading quest dialogue in their streams/videos.

IMO - and for the record, IANAL - The *performance*, not what is being said, is the in game content they are referring to. It allows 3rd parties to create mood, context, and subtext to the written text that they might not be comfortable with. If they intend a character to feel sad or conflicted about said events and the voice acting depicts them as happy or angry, that changes the context of their work in a way they are uncomfortable with.

Then Blizzard should put more effort into voice acting themselves. Boring walls of text is so last century.
Pretty much all MMO's in recent years have full-voice acting. Every line in ESO for instance is fully voiced.
With general good quality. Main quests have a bit more veteran voice actors. As should be. It really adds to the immersion.
I remember a quest during Legion where you walk with Anduin around Stormwind. He's voiced. But the people he's talking to aren't.
It felt weird, and was quite annoyed by it. Time spent with your king should be epic. And not immersion breaking...
But I guess being the top MMO means you can slack in certain departments.

And this is why 'Private Servers' are so bad for the community, it forces Blizzard to shut down benign fan projects for fear of setting a precedent and weakening their legal position. It sucks, but it's the way the world works unfortunately.

IMO - and for the record, IANAL - The *performance*, not what is being said, is the in game content they are referring to. It allows 3rd parties to create mood, context, and subtext to the written text that they might not be comfortable with. If they intend a character to feel sad or conflicted about said events and the voice acting depicts them as happy or angry, that changes the context of their work in a way they are uncomfortable with.

I like the fact MMOchampion shoved so much information into this post that nobody will really talk about the fact Blizzard is shutting down a thriving project once again, and offering zero alternatives, once again.

What a terrible company. Actually shutting down work by great fans of the game, yikes. way to persuade even more players you're the bad guys Blizzard.

This addon was going to spread out your weak ass walls of text for a more immersive questing experience, such as walking into a cave and getting exposition and quest information from the environment and creatures rather than a single questgiver; it wasn't malicious at all. your walls of text are literally available to download anywhere.

I'm a little confused about the shut down of the addon. I'm not surprised that it was shut down by Blizzard considering how they are, but I don't get why they have to be like this towards this specific addon. It's literally just text from their quests being voice acted by various people, and the only thing being created is audio to go along with already written dialogue. What is this infringing on? This is almost the equivalent to them shutting down a content creator or streamer for reading quest dialogue in their streams/videos.

The inflection of a voice and the emphasis on specific syllables and words can radically alter the entire meaning of a single line of dialog. If a volunteer voice actor gets that wrong, it changes the story in a way Blizzard cannot predict.

Having a voice-acted recording is extremely different than players reading the quest text in their own heads, interpreting it their own way. A recording creates an identical experience for everyone.

Blizzard is very careful in who they hire as a voice actor and with which studio takes they put in game. If this addon were allowed to grow in popularity, it might get to a point where it displaces Blizzard's own control of its storytelling.

I like the fact MMOchampion shoved so much information into this post that nobody will really talk about the fact Blizzard is shutting down a thriving project once again, and offering zero alternatives, once again.

I like the fact MMOchampion shoved so much information into this post that nobody will really talk about the fact Blizzard is shutting down a thriving project once again, and offering zero alternatives, once again.

What a terrible company. Actually shutting down work by great fans of the game, yikes. way to persuade even more players you're the bad guys Blizzard.

This addon was going to spread out your weak ass walls of text for a more immersive questing experience, such as walking into a cave and getting exposition and quest information from the environment and creatures rather than a single questgiver; it wasn't malicious at all. your walls of text are literally available to download anywhere.

Shame on you Blizzard.

They're not doing it out of maliciousness. They have to protect the IP and even then, they did it via a personal email/message and like noted, did not want to serve a legal notice. They even praised him for doing the project.

I like the fact MMOchampion shoved so much information into this post that nobody will really talk about the fact Blizzard is shutting down a thriving project once again, and offering zero alternatives, once again.

What a terrible company. Actually shutting down work by great fans of the game, yikes. way to persuade even more players you're the bad guys Blizzard.

This addon was going to spread out your weak ass walls of text for a more immersive questing experience, such as walking into a cave and getting exposition and quest information from the environment and creatures rather than a single questgiver; it wasn't malicious at all. your walls of text are literally available to download anywhere.